Brive-la-Gaillarde (AFP) – The book world is placing all its hopes on Christmas, a key period for sales, after a literary season shaken by the difficulties of bookstores, the AI ​​offensive and controversies over the major literary prizes.

Published on: 07/11/2026 - 16:56

“We must not lie to ourselves, times are difficult,” summarized a publisher present this weekend at the Brive-la-Gaillarde Book Fair, which traditionally marks the end of the literary season.

Very popular, this large autumn fair attracts thousands of visitors who do not hesitate to wait a long time to obtain the dedication of one of the many writers who descended on Corrèze by a special train.

“Books are the best way to escape, and we really need them when the news is dark,” says Jeanne-Marie Perrin, 67, after buying three novels, two of which she plans to give at Christmas.

Sales are increasingly focused on the end of the year, with books representing one of the French people's favorite gifts.

“The next few weeks will be crucial to save, or not, a year which has so far been gloomy, even bad for some of us,” underlines an editor who asked to remain anonymous.

And to emphasize that the drop in sales of certain works sometimes reached 20 to 30% compared to the post-Covid years, particularly good for the sector.

This "great economic excitement" contributes to "tightening minds", notes another professional, citing for example the criticism expressed in private on the major literary prizes announced in recent days.

Four of the five main prizes - Goncourt, Femina, Medicis and Renaudot - were awarded to publishing houses belonging to Madrigall, the fourth player in the sector, which notably controls Gallimard, Flammarion, Minuit and P.O.L.

“As the prices are very prescriptive, this gives them the assurance of increasing their sales in the coming weeks, a boost from which others will not benefit,” regrets the commercial director of an independent publishing house.

Madrigall's boss, Antoine Gallimard, rejects any favoritism. “The merit of the prizes goes to each house, like Gallimard or Flammarion, which made original and very strong choices which pleased the juries,” he told AFP this week.

AI Shock

The awards also provoked the annoyance of more than 200 women writers, including Annie Ernaux, Virginie Despentes and Anne Godard, who denounced "the sexism" of the five main awards, all awarded to men.

“The old system of patriarchal inter-self is functioning at full capacity,” they denounced in a forum.

The president of Goncourt, the writer Philippe Claudel, assured that the jury - four out of ten members of which are women - chose the winner "irrespective of the gender of the authors".

Beyond these debates, which the intellectual world is accustomed to, the publishing sector was especially struck by the shock of the Thélyson Orélien affair, this Canadian-Haitian author accused of having used artificial intelligence to write "It Was That or Die", one of the flagship novels of the new school year.

Faced with the emergency, publishing houses reacted differently. Gallimard has decided to pass all its future publications through an AI detector while Editions de l'Observatoire wants to reassure readers by guaranteeing them “100% human” books.

Not believing in labels, Anne-Sylvie Bameule, president of the management board of Actes Sud, prefers that this trust be based on "the quality of the work" of the publisher, who "must ensure that the author has honestly respected the rules" laid down by the publishing house.

At the same time, the book sector is looking for a way to put an end to the "total, deliberate and permanent plunder" by AI companies of "everything that has been written since publishing existed", according to Renaud Lefebvre, general director of the Syndicat de l'édition (SNE), which brings together the vast majority of publishing houses.

Following the SNE, which launched legal action against the giant Meta, around ten independent publishers decided this week to act "jointly" in order to obtain reparations from AI companies for having used works written by their authors without their authorization.

jri/vg/cal

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.